Former Deputy National Publicity
Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Timi Frank, has given
the General Abdulsalami Abubakar-led National Peace Committee, a 72-hour
ultimatum to call President Muhammadu Buhari to order over gross violation of
the recently signed peace accord by presidential candidates towards the
forthcoming 2019 general elections.

He said failure to make Buhari to respect
the peace accord within the stipulated period would force the opposition
political parties to pull out of the peace accord and subsequently direct their
supporters to massively resist the ongoing aggression against them.

Frank in a statement on Thursday in
Abuja, said the call has become imperative due to the ongoing campaign of
terror against leaders of opposition political parties aimed at actualizing a
wicked conspiracy already hatched between the agents of the Buhari
administration, security forces and the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) to brazenly rig the 2019 general elections.

He stated that the ongoing crackdown
against top members of the main opposition political party – the Peoples
Democratic Party – grossly negates the spirit and letters of the accord – “as
there can be no peace without justice, equity and fairness.”

He described the ongoing use of the
police and anti-graft agencies to hound prominent members of the PDP as an act
of aggression that cannot be further tolerated as the elections draw near.

He stated that the intimidation and
hounding of key opposition figures across the country and the attempts to deny
opposition parties access to legitimate finances by anti-graft and security
agencies show that the APC and Buhari have begun to violate the tenets of the
peace accord few weeks after it was signed.

He insisted that it is now clear
that the President and his party are out to rig the 2019 polls, or in the
alternative, refuse to respect the will of Nigerians which is to hand over the
reins of power to the eventual winner of the poll, should he be defeated as he
is sure to be.

He said that top presidential aides
are currently boasting that they already have results of elections that has not
been conducted in their kitty with which they will declare the President
and all APC’s candidates vying for various offices across the country winners
irrespective of the actual results of the next polls.

He lamented that the Nigeria Police
is leading Buhari’s onslaught against the opposition ahead of the polls while
the entire security apparatus of the country has shamefully bought into the
plot to upturn the will of the people and rob the opposition candidates of
victory.

He further added that the illegal
extension of the tenure of the current Service Chiefs and the planed elongation
of the tenure of the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, speaks volume
about the intention of the present administration to use the nation’s security
forces to rig the February elections and illegally perpetuate itself in power.

He said that the siege on Senator
Dino Melaye’s house by the police, the unlawful detention of activist, Deji
Adeyanju, and the harassment and intimidation of businessmen believed to be
sympathetic to the cause of the opposition is a clear violation of the peace
accord at this pre-election stage.

He added that failure by the
Committee to heed his call and ensure that Buhari and his agents conduct their
electioneering campaigns in line with international best practices would lead
to massive resistance by the people.

According to the political activist,
the good conduct expected of Buhari and the security forces include respect for
the fundamental human rights of Nigerians and leaders of political parties; adherence
to the rule of law, respect for judicial pronouncements and stoppage of illegal
arrests and detention of perceived political enemies before, during and after
the elections.

He warned that the planned massive
crackdown on opposition leaders including the arrest and detention of the
Director General of the PDP’s Presidential Campaign Council and Senate
President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, and other top stalwarts of the party on
frivolous allegations – just like they have done in Adeyanju’s case and
are about to do in Melaye’s case – will spell doom for the country in terms of
mass resistance that will automatically erupt if the undemocratic plot against
the opposition is not immediately halted.

He noted that the prolonged and
unlawful incarceration of a former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki
and the leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, the
gruesome killing of thousands of the latter’s followers, the assassination of a
former Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, and the murder of a
former Chief of Administration of the Nigerian Army, Maj.-Gen. Idris Alkali,
show that the present administration will go to any length to subjugate the
people in order to hang on to power illegitimately.

He noted that a recent international
report had revealed that the two men were killed to hide what it described “as
the pattern of corruption in the current military leadership in the country.”

He called on the International
Community to continue to support efforts aimed

at sustaining and growing democracy
in the country.

He noted that failure by the
Abdulsalami’s peace committee and members of the international community to
prevail on Buhari to allow for a free, fair and credible elections in the
country will lead to a catastrophic upheaval never witnessed in any of the
African continent.

He described the much trumpeted
“integrity” of Buhari as phony because events have since shown him to have
encouraged, condoned and perpetuated corrupt activities while deceiving gullible
Nigerians that he is an anti-corruption czar.

He wondered how a President that has
corrupted the nation’s governance system and security forces – preparatory to
use them to rig the forthcoming elections – continue to lay claim to
integrity.

“How can a President that has
sanctioned the diversion of state funds to finance his election say he has
integrity? How can a President that is using state-funded security forces to
intimidate, harass, detain and incarcerate members of the opposition say he has
integrity? How can a President who continuously disdains and disregards lawful
judicial pronouncements lay claims to integrity?

“How can a President who has ordered
his men to monitor banks and block the source of funds for opposition political
parties say he has integrity?

“Let the Presidency be warned.
Nigerians are ready to take their destiny in their hands should the government
not conduct itself properly to free the country from his clueless and inept
administration.

“Any attempt to rig, truncate, or
declare the next presidential election inconclusive – like the case of Osun
State – or refuse to relinquish power after defeat would be tantamount to
reversing the massive democratic gains the country has recorded since 1999.

“However, Nigerians are well
prepared to resist any such draconian actions with the last drop of their
blood,” he said.

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